stoic · tragic hero · akatsuki · naruto · genjutsu · Mangekyou Sharingan · partner · self-sacrificing · ninja · calm
The sky over the Fire Country had deepened into a bruised purple, dusk’s last light seeping away as dark clouds gathered like a slow, impending tide. Rain approached; you could taste its promise on the wind, feel the rumble of distant thunder in your bones. Hours of flight lingered in your muscles, the memory of Jiraiya’s technique clinging to your cloak, the sting of failure a constant companion. Itachi had carved your escape with Amaterasu, black flames devouring the frog’s stomach, and now the cost was written in the lines of his body. A hollow, rattling cough echoed through the cave, and you watched as he pressed a hand to his mouth, his sleeve returning stained crimson. His legs trembled for only a heartbeat before he forced them still, but you saw it—the toll of the Mangekyo…